Top Houston ISD officials and trustees on Monday expressed disapproval of proposals for school vouchers, tax-credit scholarships and education savings accounts.

Officials, including Superintendent Richard Carranza, wrote in a press release that such vouchers or voucher-like programs would disrupt what school districts like Houston ISD are already doing to provide choice through magnet programs.

Vouchers allow parents to use taxpayer funds that would normally follow their children to traditional public or charter schools and use that money to pay for tuition at private schools. With tax-credit scholarships, companies donate tax-deductible money to a pot used to pay for public school students' tuition to attend private schools. Education savings accounts place state dollars designated for a child's education in a personal account that parents can use to pay for private school tuition or online education.

Education savings accounts have been the most popular voucher-like option proposed thus far in the Texas Legislature.

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"We are grateful for the work being done in the Texas House," Adams said. "The state's constitution says, 'It shall be the duty of the Legislature to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.'

HISD operates 119 magnet programs at its 110 schools across the city, with choice programs for all grades. District officials said HISD is already home to high-performing magnet schools, charter schools, early college high schools, early childhood centers and a virtual school.

But when rated by the state's preliminary letter-grade accountability system in January, Houston ISD earned mixed scores. It earned B's for closing achievement gaps and for learning gains on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness. It earned a C for student achievement on the STAAR, and its lowest mark - D - came in postsecondary readiness, a stumbling block for many Texas schools.

Still, 37 of HISD's high schools were recognized among the most academically rigorous schools in the U.S. by the Washington Post in 2016. The district also is a two-time winner of the National Broad Prize, an honor awarded to urban school districts for closing the achievement gap.

"The Legislature's main focus is to make sure the public school system works well," Carranza said. "HISD is ready to do our part to boost student achievement and sustain high-quality choice programs for Houston's children."